[Severe meprobamate poisoning: description of 146 cases in a French department]

Therapie. 2012 Mar-Apr;67(2):183-9. doi: 10.2515/therapie/2012019. Epub 2012 Aug 2.
[Article in French]

Abstract

Meprobamate poisoning are serious and sometimes fatal. Faced with a potential stop of marketing, we conducted a multicenter retrospective study to assess the severity criteria presented by patients admitted to the ICU for severe meprobamate poisoning, whether with alone form or in combination with aceprometazine. One hundred fourty-six patients have been enrolled between January 2005 and June 2011: 38 had a single meprobamate poisoning, 104 to meprobamate and aceprometazine and 4 to both forms. At admission, 88% of patients exhibited coma (Glasgow ≤ 7) and half of them a systolic blood pressure ≤ 90 mmHg. Mortality rate was 3%. Our results did not find any significant between-group difference, either in regard of clinical or biological severity criteria. These data argue for a cessation of marketing of all meprobamate-based specialities.

Publication types

  • English Abstract
  • Multicenter Study

MeSH terms

  • Acepromazine / analogs & derivatives
  • Acepromazine / poisoning
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Blood Pressure / drug effects
  • Coma / chemically induced
  • Coma / therapy
  • Drug Recalls
  • Female
  • France / epidemiology
  • Glasgow Coma Scale
  • Hospitalization
  • Humans
  • Hypnotics and Sedatives / poisoning*
  • Male
  • Meprobamate / poisoning*
  • Middle Aged
  • Poisoning / mortality
  • Retrospective Studies

Substances

  • Hypnotics and Sedatives
  • Acepromazine
  • aceprometazine
  • Meprobamate